NEW MUSIC ROUND-UP: ALLEGAEON, AARON TURNER’S SPLIT CRANIUM, VEXT

Colorado’s Allegaeon are kind of like the Necrophagist of American melo-tech-death; no one knows how the fuck their band name is actually pronounced. After years of pronouncing it “Al-uh-gay-on” I recently learned from a member of the Metal Blade crew that it’s actually pronounced “Uh-lee-jun.” Who knew?? However you pronounce it, the band just wrapped recording sessions for their forthcoming album Formshifter and they’ve already released a new song called “Tartessos: The Hidden Xenocryst,” which you can stream below. I like it — kinda reminds me of The Black Dahlia Murder if they slowed things down a touch and let the pocket groove take hold. The album comes out on May 8th and can be pre-ordered here through Metal Blade.

Allegaeon “Tartessos: The Hidden Xenocryst” by Metal Blade Records

Meanwhile, Isis’ Aaron Turner is involved with a new project called Split Cranium, a “highly satisfying blitzkrieg of Finnish/Amero punk.” I concur! It’s good to know that Turner isn’t sitting creatively idle while he sits back and collects money from the myriad Isis live releases that have been popping up since the band’s breakup. Here’s a song called “Tiny Me” in all it’s minute-and-thirty-four second glory:

Our bro-bros at Metal Injection premiered the first track from the newly re-activated Vext, featuring Mutiny Within’s rhythm section, guitar virtuoso Angel Vivaldi,  and of course the band’s namesake Tommy Vext (ex-Divine Heresy, ex-Snot). The new track, “In the End,” is pretty much what you’d expect from this cast of characters; a highly catchy and melodic combo — but still heavy — of Euro melodeath and 2nd wave American metalcore (Killswitch, etc). The track comes from their forthcoming EP Impermanence, out later this year.

-VN